Lab 9: Service Design

Service design combines design methods from product design and interactive design in order to design the experience of and the interface of services. This is a relatively new design method that has recently gained popularity. As most products today are also combined with some type of service as well, it has now become the customer's total experience that matters the most.

Service design was developed in order to create a competitive edge over other companies. In this day and age where there is tremendous amounts of competition, service design can give you the ability to differentiate your product from the rest of the market. The purpose of service design, outlined in the UX design honeycomb, is to make what you do more:
- useful
- usable
- findable
- valuable
- credible
- desirable
- accessible

Service design focuses on the customer experience, and the quality of the service is the key to business success. Additionally, it is a human-centered approach. In the service design industry, you need to be very aware of what the customer wants, and success is based solely on whether or not you are able to satisfy your customer. This is the main reason why service design is so important.

There are some key concepts to keep in mind during the service design process. These are:
- Systems: Services provided and experienced through systems and relationships
- Value: The key is to maximize value for both users and producers
- Journeys: You have to consider the different journeys that people can take through and from your service
- People: You have to rely on the user and producer working together
- Propositions: Package your service as a "proposition" for the user to buy into

Some tools and methods for identifying, discovering and understanding the service context and users include ethnography, user studies, customer journey map, and personas. With further research under these areas, you are able to better understand - and therefore better serve - the customer. Other important tools in understanding the customer are ideation, context mapping, and participatory design. These tools reveal the users' conscious needs, hopes, and expectations of your service. This is very helpful in designing a service that they would actually use.